[urbandreamer]

And I've always wondered how much longer that tacky LV will remain as a 2.5s building--why not a skinny 45s aA building here, like Theatre Park?

 

[Student99]

As Bloor St. retail real estate becomes more and more expensive I wonder if the owners of the Colonnade have considered convereting this little used driveway into 2 storey retail. There's 100s of thousands in annual rental $ sitting there.

I believe victoria university owns it. I was under the impression that that driveway is actually pretty frequently used for service trucks to the colonnade, and for parents dropping off their kids to the private school in back. The driveway also gives bloor street access to the pay parking garage, but that photo appears to show that the pay parking sign was removed (there's an empty stand for the sign remaining)...

 

[Urban Shocker]

How Toronto, though, to have a practical little visual breathing space rather than a solid wall of high-end retail establishments. There's a similarly obscure yet useful cut-through from Bloor to the Gardiner Museum that I found handy when Queen's Park Crescent was blocked with gawking pedestrians during the Santa Claus Parade and I wanted to see some Lucie Rie pottery instead.

 

[Towered]

^ Spoken like a true downtown elitist

 

[SP!RE]

American Apparel on Queen West has changed their signage from their trademark sans-serif font to signs that mimic the "LA Fabrics" store to its left. I don't know if this is a plan to contextualize their stores to their surrounding neighbourhoods or what, but it caught me off guard.

 

[PinkLucy]

Joe Fresh is expanding ... look for new GTA locations outside of Loblaws/RCSS: http://www.thestar.com/business/article/924468--joe-fresh-coming-to-a-mall-near-you#article

 

[gregv]

Received an email from Mexx saying they are closing their Queen St W location as of Jan. 29.

 

[ACT7]

Received an email from Mexx saying they are closing their Queen St W location as of Jan. 29.

That might be a new Joe Fresh location before the end of the year. It's the right size and right venue for it. That's just my guess...I wouldn't expect that space to stay vacant for long.

 

[samsonyuen]

There'll be one just down the street at Portland though...

 

[ACT7]

There'll be one just down the street at Portland though...

Really? I didn't know that. I thought they were only going in malls for now.

 

[greenleaf]

A Piquadro store is open on Bay Street at Scollard, across the street from the new Four Seasons.

 

[ACT7]

A Piquadro store is open on Bay Street at Scollard, across the street from the new Four Seasons.

Am I imagining things or is this their first North American store? On their website, they have a USA site but under store locator nothing listed in the U.S.

 

[androiduk]

I'm having trouble reconciling this. Where is the 1 storey addition going to go.

Application: Zoning Review Status: Not Started

Location: 150 BLOOR ST W
TORONTO ON M5S 2X9

Ward 27: Toronto Centre-Rosedale

Application#: 11 113598 ZPR 00 ZR Accepted Date: Jan 25, 2011

Project: Non-Residential Building Addition

Description: Proposal to construct 2 one storey additions (plus mezzanine levels) to an existing multi use commercial building. New additions to front on Bloor St W. and on Avenue Rd. Additions to be used for retail purposes.

 

[ACT7]

Yah, I'm not sure either. Does this mean the whole space is leased and they have more demand now? Or has most of the space been leased for office use and they need more retail?

 

[Patriot]

My guess: They will reconstruct the whole retail space. This may entail gutting portions of the second and third office floors above - much like they did with Burberry. Then extend it forward and upward a bit to give it a prominent presence. It does make you wonder though - with all this reconstruction - is there a tenant on standby?